A NATION AT STAKE

As the line between online gaming and gambling blurs, millions of Indians grapple with addiction, debt and fraud while the government scrambles to rein in a booming yet chaotic industry

- By AVANEESH MISHRA and PRADIP R. SAGAR Photo illustration by NILANJAN DAS / AI

It's a sweltering afternoon in Brahimpur in east Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur district, but 35-year-old farmer Surya Pratap Singh seems oblivious to it. He is sitting beneath a neem tree, furiously tapping his phone screen. Around him, a few plastic chairs and a charpoy make up what is probably Brahimpur gram sabha's unofficial gaming lounge. The game of choice isn't played with dice or cards, it's all digital instead, be it ludo, fantasy cricket or online rummy. The stakes? They are very real. “This has been our routine for years,” says Surya Pratap. “No matter what I'm doing, I have to play. I need Rs 2,000-3,000 every day just to get by.... I know I won't win. But I cannot stop.”

Surya Pratap's addiction has cost him not just money but peace of mind, familial ties and self-esteem too. He has logged some 19,500 games on his app, often wagering thousands in a single round. On one particularly devastating day, he lost Rs 1.5 lakh, convinced that he was about to win it all back. “I thought I was having a heart attack,” he recalls.